Chapter 10 #2
“Slight change of plans if you’re amenable to it. Gunner and I are both calling a halt for the day. Pack your sleepover bag. We’re coming to get you to eat early supper with us, then home we go.”
She started smiling. “My sleepover bag. I love that. Give me a few and I’ll be ready, and I love the invitation.”
“See you in a few. Love you.”
She was still smiling when she disconnected, then rolled off the bed and went to the closet to get a duffel bag and began packing, taking care to throw in the bottle of pain pills. The stitches were beginning to draw, making it harder for her to flex her fingers.
As soon as she had her bag ready, she slipped off the old sweatshirt she was wearing and put on a pink sweater, and hurried across the room in her sock feet to get a pair of slip-on shoes.
She caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror and paused.
Her eyes were bright. Her cheeks were flushed.
She hadn’t seen herself like this in years, and it was all due to having Asher back in her life.
When she heard the knock at her door, she abandoned her reverie. The cavalry had arrived!
“It’s unlocked! Come in!” she shouted, then put on her coat, dropped her phone in the pocket, and was reaching for her purse when Asher walked into her room, laughing.
“Woman… What do you mean…it’s unlocked?” he said, and wrapped his arms around her.
She laughed. “I knew you were on the way. Stop fussing and kiss me,” so he did. Deeply. Longingly, and reluctantly let her go. “Gunner’s keeping your seat warm,” he said. “Is this the bag you’re taking?”
“Yes.”
He ran a finger down the side of her cheek. “Got your nightie?”
“Don’t make fun of my sleepwear,” she said. “Besides, you know you’re just going to take it off.”
He was still smiling as he picked up the bag and led the way out of the house. Nora paused to turn on the porch light, then locked the door and followed Ash to the truck.
Gunner winked at her as Ash helped her up into the seat, then buckled her in.
“Hey, Lefty, how’s it going?” he asked.
She held up her bandaged hand. “Still hanging on. Shifting subject matter on you guys now. How’s the investigation going?”
“All kinds of puzzle pieces, but we’re missing that corner piece. The one that makes everything else fit,” Asher said.
“We’ll get there. We just need to refuel ourselves, thus the trip to the Yellow Rose,” Gunner said.
“Well, thanks for including me in the party,” Nora said as Asher backed out of her driveway. He put the car in Drive, then reached across the seat and clasped her hand as he drove away.
* * *
The parking lot was over half full when they arrived, and entering the Yellow Rose was like visiting family. The warmth of enticing scents and the faces of people they knew greeted them as they headed toward an empty table.
“Nora! What are you doing with those two outlaws?” someone called out.
“None of your business!” she said, which made Asher smile.
They shed their coats, leaving them on the empty chair at the table as they sat.
Menus were on the table, as were coffee cups and flatware.
Nora saw Cheryl coming with a full carafe of coffee and noticed Cheryl had gone from a blond to a redhead since the last time she’d seen her.
“Coffee?” Cheryl asked.
“Yes, please,” Nora said. “And I love what you’ve done with your hair. It suits you.”
Cheryl beamed. “Freaked my kids out, but my better half likes it.”
She filled all their cups and moved on as they were reaching for the menus. Again, Nora was limited by choices because of the bandage, then saw fried catfish and hush puppies were the daily special and that ended her indecision.
“I’m having the special,” she said, then leaned back with her hands in her lap, while the men were still deliberating, remembering the times she’d spent here with her family, and with Asher and his brothers.
The only times he’d left them behind was when they were on a real date, then let go of the memories when Cheryl came back to take their orders.
Asher had been keeping a casual eye on Nora, and when he saw her staring out the windows, he knew she’d gone somewhere else. Somewhere too far away for him to reach.
He was still considering the wisdom of interfering with her muse, or letting her be where she needed to be, when a man staggered in with a boy not yet in his teens behind him.
He paused at the doorway as he looked for a place to sit, and then stumbled across the dining area to the empty table behind where they were seated.
Gunner eyed him as they passed, then gave Asher a look. “Jasper Henry. Drunk as a skunk,” he muttered.
Asher nodded.
Within seconds, Jasper shouted, “Anybody waitin’ tables in here? Leroy wants a burger!”
Before either waitress could turn around, Pearl appeared. “Whoever is yelling in here, this isn’t a bar. Keep it down.”
But Jasper was too drunk to get the message, and chose to argue, instead.
“Yeah, and if the damned bar wasn’t closed, that’s where I would be,” he shouted.
Before Nora knew what was happening, Ash and Gunner had come up out of their chairs and were standing at Jasper Henry’s table.
“What the hell? Get outta my face! Why ain’t you runnin’ the bar for your daddy? A man needs a drink now and then.”
“It appears you have found a whole lot of liquor on your own, and without our daddy’s help,” Asher said. “You need not to be shouting at Pearl and disrupting the diners.”
“I can do whatever I want, when I want,” Jasper shouted, and started to stand up.
Gunner leaned over, looked Jasper square in the eye, and said, “No sir, you cannot. It’s called disturbing the peace.”
And then they pulled their badges out in unison. “Asher Kingston, special investigator for the attorney general’s office.”
“Gunner Kingston, homicide detective with the Dallas PD. You are setting a bad example for your son.”
The mention of his son shifted Jasper’s focus. He saw a mixture of fear and shame in his little boy’s eyes and wilted. “I didn’t mean nothing by it,” Jasper mumbled.
Asher sighed. “You already know why the bar is closed. You know somebody tried to kill our father, and that’s why we’re here. We’re not leaving Crossroads until the guilty party is behind bars. Was it you?”
Jasper Henry’s eyes widened in sudden horror. “No, no, hell no, I didn’t kill no one. I’m sorry for what I said. Me and the boy will be leavin’. My apologies to Miss Pearl.”
“Unfortunately for you, you aren’t driving anywhere,” Gunner said.
Ash saw the fallen look on the little boy’s face. “Hey, Leroy, it’s okay. You’re not in trouble, and neither is your daddy. He’s just had too much to drink, hasn’t he?”
Leroy nodded.
“Is your mama at home?” Asher asked.
“Yes sir.”
“Does she have a car to drive?”
Leroy nodded.
Gunner knew where his brother was going with this. “Jasper, I’m gonna be needing your wife’s phone number.”
Jasper groaned. “She’ll have my hide.”
“You should have thought of that before you decided to get pie-faced drunk with your son in the car. Give me her number,” Gunner said.
The dining room was silent, the diners watching as the drama unfolded.
As for Pearl, the moment she saw Ash and Gunner step into the uproar, she went back to the kitchen, satisfied they had it under control.
Jasper pulled up his wife’s number.
Gunner called it, then stood waiting until she answered.
“Hello?”
“Mrs. Henry, this is Gunner Kingston. Your husband is at the Yellow Rose, too drunk to drive, and your son Leroy is with him. They are unharmed, but they need a ride home. You can lock Jasper’s car, take the keys, and make sure he does not retrieve his vehicle until sometime tomorrow when he’s cold sober. ”
“Oh, my God,” she muttered. “You’re one of Jacob’s boys, aren’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am, I am.”
“I’ll be right there. Thank you for calling,” she said.
While all of that was happening, Nora’s heart had gone out to the little boy.
She slipped up to the front desk and was now waiting for Darla to finish sacking up six of Pearl’s cowboy cookies.
They were giant oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that she sold individually wrapped.
Leroy wasn’t going to get his burger, but maybe these would help, and as soon as Darla gave her the bag, Nora headed back.
Ash and Gunner were holding Jasper up to keep him from falling as they walked him out of the Rose. Leroy was behind them, his head down, his eyes blurred with tears, when Nora stopped him.
“Leroy, honey, these are for you and your mama,” she whispered. “None of this is your fault. You are a good son for trying to take care of your daddy, okay?”
Leroy looked in the sack, blinking back tears. “Thank you, lady.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart. Go on now, and don’t be scared of the big guys. They’re really, really nice men.”
Just as they reached the door to go out, Ash realized Leroy wasn’t behind them. He looked back and saw Nora talking to him, then giving him a little sack and a pat on the back, right before he bolted for the door.
Nora was smiling as she watched Leroy run to catch up, and at that moment, she saw Asher watching her and winked, then went back to their table.
As soon as Leroy caught up, they walked Jasper out, with Leroy at their heels.
“She gave me cookies for taking good care of my daddy!” Leroy said, clutching the white sack against his chest like the treasure it was.
“She’s a really nice lady,” Asher said.
The little boy beamed. “She’s pretty.”
Asher smiled. “She’s that, too.”
By the time Jasper’s wife arrived, the cold wind and the shame had gone a long way to sobering him up. But, when he started to get in the front seat, his wife stopped him.
“You sit in the back seat. Leroy rides with me,” she said, and loaded him into the front seat, leaving Jasper to get himself into the rear.
“That’s one pissed-off woman,” Gunner said.
Ash nodded. “With good reason,” he said, and led the way back inside.
Cheryl had just delivered their food to the table as they sat.